According to the most recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 107,543 people have died. drug overdose Number of deaths expected in the US during 2023.
While the figure is high, it actually represents a 3% drop from the record 111,029 deaths recorded in 2022. The CDC’s data, compiled by its National Center for Health Statistics, is provisional and final figures will be released next year.
This modest drop may be a welcome sign for those who work with addicts and drug users, but experts say much more needs to be done to substantially reduce overdose deaths, which have increased more than fivefold in the past 25 years, according to C.D.C. data.
Here are five findings based on the C.D.C.’s latest data.
A firefighter in Illinois is treating a woman who reportedly overdosed on the drug. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Thousands of Americans die from fentanyl overdose; what’s the reason behind this increase?
1. Main drugs used in overdose deaths
Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl were the leading cause of overdose deaths in 2023 and a contributing factor in nearly 7 out of 10 deaths.
Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. It was first synthesized in Belgian chemist Introduced by Paul Janssen in 1960 as a pain reliever, the drug proved useful for patients suffering from traumatic injuries.
But it wasn’t until about the last decade that the drug reached the black market and really began destroying lives and communities across America.
One of the main reasons for the spread of fentanyl in recent years is the cheap production method. While others are derived from plants, narcotics like heroin and cocaine Synthesized drugs like fentanyl are cheaper for both the producer and the consumer. Fentanyl is produced primarily in Mexico using sugar precursors and then smuggled across the southern border.
Opioid overdose deaths actually fell from an estimated 84,181 in 2022 to 81,083 last year, C.D.C. data show.
2. Increase in cocaine and methamphetamine overdoses
While overdose deaths from dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl decreased in 2023 compared to 2022, deaths due to psychostimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine increased.
According to CDC estimates, psychostimulants caused more than 36,000 deaths, while cocaine caused about 30,000 deaths.
Preliminary toxicology results into the deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans found dead in the snow two days after they gathered on game day revealed lethal levels of THC, cocaine, and fentanyl in their bodies, according to Fox News Digital. previously reported,
A Michigan officer details the terrifying moment he passed out from exposure to fentanyl
A man smokes on the sidewalk on January 10, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
3. States with the biggest rise and fall in overdoses
Alaska, Washington and Oregon lead the way with significant increases of at least 27% compared to the same period in 2022.
A new study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that overdose deaths in Western states may be linked to the widespread availability of fentanyl.
Law enforcement agencies seized more than 115 million pills containing illicit fentanyl in 2023. This number was 2,300 times more than the 50,000 pills seized in 2017.
The region now has the highest number of fentanyl seizures, as well as the total weight of fentanyl seized, the NIH study says. Furthermore, 77.8% of all fentanyl seizures in the West in 2023 were in pill form.
in March, Oregon lawmaker Portland voted to re-criminalize certain drugs after a surge in overdose deaths. Portland’s private security guards Michael Bock He previously told Fox News that fentanyl, priced cheaply at 25 cents a pill, has had a devastating impact on his community.
Most of the fentanyl imported into the U.S. comes through the southern border, according to Dr. Mark Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine and a practicing internist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.
“The cartels are flooding us with it, which is why more than 70% of overdose deaths are caused by fentanyl,” Siegel told Fox News Digital. “But the other problem is that fentanyl is also mixed with other drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine.”
Siegel said fentanyl depresses respiration, and a person stops breathing.
Many states across the country saw major reductions in overdose deaths.
For example, Nebraska, Kansas, Indiana, and Maine saw declines of 15% or more.
Liberal Oregon does a U-turn, passes bill to recriminalize hard drugs amid surge in overdose deaths
4. An upward trend in long-term drug overdose deaths
While the latest figures may be good news in terms of a drop in overdose cases last year, the trend over the past 25 years shows a definite and frightening increase. There were around 20,000 deaths in 1999, but the number of deaths rose to over 70,500 in 2019 and peaked in 2023 with 111,029 deaths.
The number of overdose deaths in 2022 reached a record 107,941.
Joe Schrank, founder of Remedy Recovery, an organization that provides treatment for substance use disorders, says it will take a new approach to drastically reduce the number of overdoses.
“All of the statistics you’re seeing relate to people’s lives, they relate to individual families, they relate to individual individuals,” Schrank told Fox News Digital.
“If we want to tackle the drug problem we have to look at it as a public health problem, not as a crime, and there are many states that fail to address this. In other words, France, Portugal and Switzerland have an overdose problem, but it’s very rare. And that’s because they look at drug abuse, or however you want to define it, as a public health problem.”
A man uses a drug consumption booth at a safe injection site at OnPoint NYC on January 24, 2022 in New York City. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Schrank says those who view it as a public health problem should offer safe injection sites, like the one in Vancouver, Canada, and that these sites could better educate users on how to take the drug and ways to cope. Their addiction,
“There have been 2 million injections monitored by public health officials in Vancouver and they’ve never had an overdose death. They’ve had a lot of overdoses. So this is one of the ways to tackle this problem.”
“It’s a weird thing, because people who consume alcohol have all kinds of protections, they have safe consumption sites, they have what’s called hotel bars and lobbies. They have a secure supply chain, so if you buy a bottle of distilled spirits from any place, you know it’s not poison. That’s not true of other drugs.”
Schrank argues that Vancouver’s treatment approach shows that the increase in overdoses in Oregon was not directly due to decriminalization.
5. Drug users do not know that fentanyl has been added to the drugs
While some people intentionally consume fentanyl, the NIH says many people are unaware that the potentially deadly drugs they plan to use contain fentanyl. This is especially true in the case of illicit counterfeit pills, which are often made to resemble prescription drugs like oxycodone or benzodiazepines but actually contain fentanyl, the NIH study says.
The NIH says studies between 2010 and 2021 found a dramatic increase in overdose deaths among teens, which remained high through 2022. This increase in deaths is primarily due to the widespread availability of illicit fentanyl, the spread of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, and the ease of purchasing pills through social media.
Schrank said it’s time for a national conversation on drug use and overdose, adding that it affects many families across the U.S. He noted the issue has even reached the White House. Hunter Biden The case of crack cocaine addiction recently went to court.
“There’s a Hunter in every family. Every family has someone, whether it’s an alcoholic uncle, a nephew they’re worried about, we all have this problem, and it’s remarkable that we don’t really say much about it.”
The Houston-based Drug Enforcement Administration office said it seized more than 7 million fentanyl doses in 2022. (US State Department)
5. How people who use drugs can reduce their chances of overdose
Illicit drugs like fentanyl and cocaine are illegal, but that doesn’t stop people from using them, so the CDC has taken several steps to reduce the risk of overdose for drug users.
The agency recommends using fentanyl test strips before use to prevent drug overdose. The small strips of paper can detect the presence of fentanyl in drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin, as well as in pills, powders and injectable drugs.
The CDC also advises users to keep naloxone on hand, a drug that quickly reverses opioid overdoses. The agency also advises avoiding mixing drugs and not using the drugs alone in case someone needs to call emergency services or administer naloxone.
“The main thing here is ‘accidental’ overdose deaths,” says Siegel. “We’re not talking about people who commit suicide. In most cases, these people accidentally overdose while trying to get high, not realizing how powerful the substance is.
“That’s where education is needed. That’s where naloxone or Narcan comes in. Again, people need to know that even one dose of Narcan may not be enough. You may need two or three doses, because fentanyl has a very long half-life.”
In the meantime, Schrank said the best way to help people get off hard drugs is to provide safe sites rather than imposing prison sentences. Users may reject help, but eventually change their minds, he said.
“If you tell somebody this 10 times and once he says, ‘OK,’ whereas if you arrest him and tell him to do some type of incarceration or public defense, he won’t do it.”
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“It’s always through human relationships and non-judgment and the truth of the matter is that people have a human right to self-determination. And a lot of that of familiesLarge scale communities, towns in the US cannot accept that (some people) want to live their lives this way.”
“But it’s their own choice, even when everyone around them disagrees with their choice, they have a right to make that choice, and it’s not fair to dehumanize and marginalize them by saying, ‘Well, go and overdose and die.’ We can do better than that.”
Information regarding addiction treatment can be obtained by visiting findtreatment.gov or by calling the national helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357).
Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
